IDH Farmfit Fund Backs Avanti Finance to Scale Financial Access for Smallholder Farmers through Follow-On Equity Investment
Technology-Led Solution Driving Financial Inclusion for Underserved.
Utrecht — December 11, 2024 — IDH Farmfit Fund is pleased to announce its continued support for Avanti Finance, a technology-driven non-banking financial company (NBFC) dedicated to financial inclusion, by participating in the company's latest equity funding round of USD 14.2 million (INR 1.2bn). This investment underscores IDH Farmfit Fund's commitment to enhancing access to affordable financial services for underserved communities, particularly smallholder farmers in India.
Avanti Finance has made significant progress in providing frictionless, affordable, and hyperlocal credit products to low-income households, with 90% of its borrowers being women and the majority being involved in smallholder farming activity. Since its inception, Avanti has served 900,000 low-income households, achieving an Assets Under Management of USD 19.4 million (INR 1.64bn). The fresh capital will be utilized to expand Avanti's loan portfolio, enhance its deep-tech platform for product innovation, and broaden its reach in both rural and urban areas.
IDH Farmfit Fund's initial investment in Avanti's Series B round in April 2023 was aimed at supporting the company's mission to provide accessible financial services to smallholder farmers, enabling them to build sustainable livelihoods. This follow-on investment reaffirms IDH Farmfit Fund's confidence in Avanti's innovative, asset-light, and capital-efficient model, which aligns with the Fund's objective to de-risk investments into smallholder value chains and drive sustainable impact.
Through this continued partnership with Avanti Finance, IDH Farmfit Fund aims to further its mission of improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and contributing to sustainable rural development in India.
Avanti is very grateful to IDH and our other investors for their continued support in our journey of democratising credit for the tens of million households in India who are excluded from formal financial services. Solving for the smallholder farmer to create sustainable livelihoods and provide a better opportunity to usher in economic prosperity is very important for our mission. Innovation requires bold risk capital and this is where a focused impact investor like IDH catalyses the same.
Our additional investment in Avanti reflects our commitment to support scalable solutions that enhance financial inclusion and generate positive impact for smallholder farmers. Avanti's technology-driven platform aligns with our strategy in India to invest in innovative models that improve access to finance, enabling farmers to invest in their operations and achieve sustainable growth.
We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with Avanti Finance as they strengthen their reach to underserved communities. Their focus on enabling financial inclusion for women and smallholder farmers aligns well with our commitment to promote inclusive business models that contribute to economic development and social impact.
IDH Farmfit Fund was advised by Nesbit West, Partner at CapstoneLaw for this transaction.
About Avanti
Avanti’s mission is to enable sustainable livelihoods and empower the next 100 million households through accessible and affordable financial services. It is building a digital first financial inclusion platform that fosters hyperlocal livelihood innovation and mass customisation at scale. Avanti believes community-centric systems enable the digitisation of the social trust of the users, which is critical to building scale in the unbanked segment. For more information, visit: Avanti
About IDH Farmfit Fund
The IDH Farmfit Fund takes the highest risk positions in farmer-related transactions, thereby reducing the farmer risk currently borne by borrowers and lenders. By doing so, IDH Farmfit Fund catalyses commercial capital to co-invest in this sector. These investments will increase the availability of affordable, long-term financing to smallholder farmers, leading to significant improvements in their livelihoods and incomes. For more information, visit: IDH Farmfit Fund